Hispanophone

Hispanophone[i] and Hispanosphere are terms used to refer to Spanish-language speakers and the Spanish-speaking world, respectively. The terms derive from the Latin political name of the Iberian Peninsula, Hispania. In addition to the general definition of Hispanophone, some groups in the Hispanic world make a distinction between Castilian-speaking[ii] and Spanish-speaking, with the former term denoting the speakers of the Spanish language—also known as Castilian—and the latter the speakers of the Spanish or Hispanic languages (i.e. the languages of Spain or the languages of the Hispanic nations).

In a cultural, rather than merely linguistic sense, the notion of "Hispanophone" goes further than the above definition. The Hispanic culture is the legacy of the Spanish Empire, and so the term can refer to people whose cultural background is primarily associated with Spain, regardless of ethnic or geographical differences. The whole sense of identity of the Hispanic population and the Hispanophones is sometimes referred by the term Hispanidad (Hispanicity).

During the Spanish period between 1492 and 1898, many people from Spain migrated to the new lands they had conquered. The Spaniards took with them their language and culture,
and integrated within the society they had settled, creating a large empire that stretched all over the world and producing several multiracial populations. Their influences are found in the following continents and countries that were originally colonized by the Spaniards.

The modern-day people that live in the region of ancient Hispania are the Portuguese, Spanish, Andorran and Gibraltarian people. Historically, the modern country of Spain was formed by the accretion of several independent Iberian kingdoms through dynastic inheritance, conquest and the will of the local elites. These kingdoms had their own nationalistic loyalties and political borders.

Today, there is no single Castilian–Spanish identity for the whole country. Spain is a de factoplurinational state. Many Spanish citizens feel no conflict in recognising their multiple ethnic identities at the same time. Spain is a culturally heterogeneous country, home to a wide range of cultures, each one with its own customs and traditions. Some such cultures have their own language. Since the beginning of the transition to democracy in Spain and the creation of the Spanish autonomous communities, after the Francisco Franco dictatorship, there have been many movements towards more autonomy (delegation of powers) in certain territories of the country, some with the aim of achieving full independence and others with the goal of improving the system of devolution and the state of the autonomies (or self-government entities) .

The existence of multiple distinct cultures in Spain allows an analogy to be drawn to the United Kingdom. Using the term Spanish for someone of Spanish descent would then be expected to be equivalent to using Briton to describe someone descending from some part of the United Kingdom. Cultures within the United Kingdom, such as English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh, would then correspond in this analogy to cultures within Spain such as Castilian, Catalan, Galician and Basque among others. In contrast with Spain, because of centuries of gradual and mutual consolidation across the Iberian Peninsula, such distinctions tend to be blurred. It is a subtle, yet important, distinction.

In Spain, as in the United Kingdom, the economically dominant territories—Castile and England—spread their language for mutual communication. However, the political dominance in the United Kingdom tends to be sharper compared to Spain, where most of medieval realms do not correspond with the actual boundaries of the autonomous communities, and the crown was unified into a sole monarch. For instance, Spanish people in modern times never refer to King Felipe VI of Spain as "the King of Castile," whereas the British sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, is sometimes referred to colloquially as "the Queen of England."

U.S. Hispanics are citizens of the United States whose ancestry or national origin is of any of the nations composing the Hispanosphere. A Hispanic person's status is independent from whether or not he or she speaks the Spanish language, for not all Hispanic Americans speak Spanish. A Hispanic person may be of any race (White, Amerindian, mixed, Black, Asian or Pacific Islander). As of 2013[update] Hispanics accounted for 17.1% of the population, around 53.2 million people.[10] This was an increase of 29% since 2004, when Hispanics were 14.1% of the population (around 41.3 million people). The Hispanic growth rate over the July 1, 2003 to July 1, 2004 period was 3.6% — higher than any other ancestral group in the United States — and more than three times the rate of the nation's total population (at 1.0%). The projected Hispanic population of the United States for July 1, 2050, is 105.6 million people. According to this projection, Hispanics will constitute 25% of the nation’s total population by the year 2050.[11]

Two iconic American stories have Spanish antecedents, too. Almost 80 years before John Smith's alleged rescue by Pocahontas, a man by the name of Juan Ortiz told of his remarkably similar rescue from execution by an Indian girl. Spaniards also held a thanksgiving—56 years before the famous Pilgrims festival—when they feasted near St. Augustine with Florida Indians, probably on stewed pork and garbanzo beans. As late as 1783, at the end of the American Revolutionary War, Spain held claim to roughly half of today's continental United States (see New Spain); in 1775, Spanish ships even reached Alaska. From 1819 to 1848, the United States and its army increased the nation's area by roughly a third at Spanish and Mexican expense, including today's three most populous states: California, Texas, and Florida. Hispanics became the first American citizens in the newly acquired Southwest territory and remained the ancestral majority in several states until the 20th century.

The term Hispanic is cultural and not racial. The racial diversity found among Hispanics stems from the fact that Hispanic America has always been, since 1492, an area of immigration until late in the 20th century, when the region has increasingly become an area of emigration. Even outside the broad U.S. definition of Hispanic, the term encompasses a very racially and ethnically diverse population. While in the United States, Hispanics are often treated as a group apart from whites, blacks or other races, they actually include people who may identify with any or all of those racial groups.

Hispanics with mostly Caucasoid or Negroid features may not be recognized as such in the United States in spite of the ethnic and racial diversity of most Hispanic American populations. Hispanics who do not look like the stereotypical Hispanic may have their ancestral status questioned or even challenged by others.[citation needed] Actors Martin Sheen, Alexis Bledel and Cameron Diaz, for example, are Hispanic even though they may be presumed not to be so because, being white, they do not fit the stereotype. If Hispanics with mostly Caucasoid features are to be considered Hispanic, they have stereotypical Mediterranean/Southern European appearance - olive skin, dark hair, and dark eyes.[16][17][18]

A great proportion of Hispanics identify as half-caste (mixed European and Amerindian) regardless of national origin.[citation needed] This is largely because most Hispanics have their origins in majority half-caste Hispanic American countries. El Salvador, Paraguay, and Mexico are examples of mostly half-caste populations, with 90% of Salvadorans, 95% of Paraguayans, and 70% [19] of Mexicans identifying as mestizo, with Mexico having the largest total mestizo population at over 66 million.[20]

Many individuals identified as Hispanics (based on the U.S. definition) are of unmixed Amerindian ancestry. For example, many of those from Bolivia, Guatemala, and Peru constitute a majority or plurality of the population as do a considerable proportion in Mexico.[citation needed]

Many Hispanics born in or with descent from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Cuba, Uruguay, and other countries may be of African descent, be it mulatto (mixed European and black African), zambo (mixed Amerindian and black African), triracial (specifically European, black African, and Amerindian), or unmixed black African. Recently, Hispanics of unmixed black African blood are perceived and defined by American mass media and popular culture as Hispanic, because of existing mulatto Hispanics of Negroid phenotypes and the dark-skinned stereotype of Hispanics.

The majority of people in Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile are largely of European descent; not only of Spanish Europeans, but Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Irish, British, etc. In countries like Mexico, there was a process of miscegenation, which resulted in many people having both indigenous and European origins. Many white Mexicans, though labeled Hispanic by the U.S. definition because of their assimilated culture and country of birth, trace their ancestries to European countries other than Spain, and some to non-European countries (see next paragraph). Nevertheless, in most cases, they have some Spanish ancestry, as the waves of European immigrants to these countries tended to quickly assimilate, intermarrying with the country's local population. (From 1850 to 1920, the U.S. Census form did not distinguish between whites and Mexican Americans.[21] In 1930, the U.S. Census form asked for "color or race," and census enumerators were instructed to write W for white and Mex for Mexican.[22] In 1940 and 1950, the census reverted its decision and made Mexicans be classified as white again and thus the instructions were to "Report white (W) for Mexicans unless they were definitely of full Indigenous Indian or other non-white races (such as Black or Asian)."[21]) Initially colonial Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile had predominately mestizo population, but because of a massive European migration (mostly Spaniards and Italians, with Germans, British, Polish, etc.) in the 19th century, and the repeated intermarriage with white Europeans and Middle Easterners, like white Mexicans, they also have some Spanish blood, wherein the mestizo population became a so-called castizo population; with more European settlers arriving in the early 20th century, the population of Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile has overwhelmingly become white and European (some Middle Eastern) in race, culture and tradition.[citation needed] Like mentioned above, the Hispanics of Caucasian race, including white Mexicans, white Argentines, and white Uruguayans, who are perceived by U.S. mass media as well as general U.S. popular culture as Hispanic usually possess stereotypical Mediterranean appearance

The presence of these mentioned ethnic groups are not country-specific, since they can be found in every Hispanic American country, whether as larger of smaller proportions of their respective populations. Even in Spain, the European motherland of Hispanicity, recent decades has seen a growing population of mestizos and mulattoes and of unmixed Amerindian and African descent due to the reversal of the historic Old World-to-New World migration pattern, i.e.: Latin American immigration to Spain.

Of the over 35 million Hispanics counted in the Federal 2000 Census, 47.9% identified as White (termed White Hispanic by the Census Bureau); 42.2% some other race; 6.3% two or more races; 2% Black or African American; 1.2% American Indian and Alaska Native; 0.3% Asian; and 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander.[23] Note that even among those Hispanics who reported one race only, most would also possess at least some ancestral lineage from one or more other races, despite the fact that only 6.3% reported as such (this is also applicable to the non-Hispanics counted in the U.S. Census, although maybe in less proportion).

According to one study (Stephens et al. 2001), from the genetic perspective, Hispanics generally represent a differential mixture of European, Native American, and African ancestry, with the proportionate mix typically depending on country of origin.[24]

The populations of Iberia (both Spain and Portugal), like all European populations, have received multiple other influences, even though they are still largely descended from the prehistoric European populations, and to a greater degree than any other major group.[25] The ancestry of Iberians has thus received many, (limited and often very localized) influences from the many people who settled on its territory throughout history, including Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Punics, Celts, Vandals, Suebi, Buri, Visigoths, Alans, Byzantines, Slavs (saqaliba), Berbers, Arabs, Magyars, Jews, and—particularly in Andalusia—Roma.[26]

The former Portuguese colony has a community of Afro-Cubans known as Amparos. They descend from Afro-Cuban soldiers brought to the country in 1975 as a result of the Cuban involvement in the Cold War. Fidel Castro deployed thousands of troops to the country during the Angolan Civil War. As a result of this era, there exists a small Spanish-speaking community in Angola of Afro-Cubans numbering about 100,000.

In the former Spanish province of Equatorial Guinea, the majority of the population speak Spanish[citation needed], there is a small minority of African people who possessed Spanish and other European ancestry. These individuals form less than 1% of the population.

In the former Spanish protectorate of Morocco, Spanish speakers are present in small numbers, located in the northern coastal region of the country. However the majority of Moroccan people are predominantly Muslims of Berber and African ancestry.

Since the Reconquista, Spain has held numerous emplacements in North Africa. Most of them were promptly lost, but to date, with an approximate population of 143,000 people, the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, which constitute the two plazas de soberanía mayores (Major Territories under [Spanish] Sovereignty) remained Spanish, and the Chafarinas Islands, the Peñón de Alhucemas and the Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, which constitute the three plazas de soberanía menores (Minor Territories under [Spanish] Sovereignty), still forming part of Spain. The Canary Islands, a constituent part of Spain's main territorial subdivisions, are also located in North Africa.

In the former Spanish province of Western Sahara, Spanish is de facto official (however, in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, one of the claimants to the territory, it is de jure co-official).[27] Most Arabic speakers speak Spanish as second language.

Despite its rapid decline in the 20th century, there has been a revival of interest in the Spanish language in the first decade of the 21st century. Since the rule of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (herself a fluent speaker), Spanish is slowly being re-introduced into the educational system, with a revival of Spanish-language media including Filipinas Ahora Mismo (Tagalog: Filipinas Ora Mismo), a radio programme broadcast on Radio Manila FM.

While most people living on these islands no longer speak Spanish, the native Chamorro language exhibits a noticeable Spanish influence in its vocabulary. Many Chamorros have also preserved Hispanic cultural elements such as fiestas, cockfighting, and the Catholic faith despite having integrated with the American way of life.

Spanish surnames are still prevalent on Guam, it is spoken by Catholic people and Puerto Ricans, and the custom of women keeping their maiden names after marriage is a both byproduct of Spanish culture on these islands as well as the matrilineal structure of indigenous Chamorro culture.

^Watch this YouTube video that shows faces of white Latin Americans, look for the white Latin Americans with Mediterranean/Southern European pigmentation that stereotypes most of white Latin Americans and white Hispanic and Latino Americans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoISFZvzYsg